GAZETTE & HERALD: A HISTORY of Calne during the Second World War will soon be on display at the Heritage Centre to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the conflict.

The exhibition will feature various memories of people who were involved in the war, as well as memorabilia from the period.

It will also give an insight into those that were not fortunate enough to survive.

Centre chairman Daphne Walters said: "We are displaying a large colour-coded map of the world with all the different theatres of war.

"Various people have sent in details of where they served and some of them were all over the place.

"We have also been having quite a lot of souvenirs that people have kindly brought in and we have been given stories in more detail of representatives of each of the services.

"We also have reproductions of the newspapers and posters of the time, as well as memorabilia such as tin hats and gas masks.

"There is also a lot about the home front and what people were doing in Calne at the time.

"I've been trying to get photos of people from the time because it is often difficult for children to relate to seeing grandfathers as young men."

Mrs Walters said she has researched the history of those that died during the war, so people could find more about the real people behind the names etched on the area's war memorials.

She said: "I took the names from the war memorials in Compton Bassett, Bremhill and Yatesbury and logged into the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and got all the details of them, such as what they served in and where they did it.

"You see the names of these people on the memorials, but you don't really get to see the history of them.

"Some of their stories are so sad There is a boy of 18 who joined the RAF and was shot down a month later. In Yatesbury there was about 20-odd graves of young lads who were killed in training at flying school."

The exhibition opens next Saturday and will run until the end of September.